Many products that claim to whiten teeth do not live up to their claims, or are backed up by little or no evidence to prove that they work, according to a report in Health Which?, published today.
Health Which?, published by the British Consumers' Association, asked the manufacturers of a number of these products for evidence to back up their claims. A panel of three independent dentists assessed this evidence and awarded each product a research rating based on the quality of evidence provided by the manufacturers.
None of the products, which included toothpaste, mouth rinses and dental floss, got a research rating of more than 53 per cent. Ms Emma Copeland, principal researcher for Health Which?, said: "At best the products we looked at are unlikely to remove more than surface stains, and some of them may not even do this very well. If you're serious about whitening your teeth, talk to your dentist first. Otherwise you could be washing money straight down the plughole."